Friday, August 31, 2012

Drasmyr: The Guest Blog and Virtual Tour

Drasmyr

by Matthew
D. Ryan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

We vampires
do not make easy prey. Our weaknesses are few, our strengths many. Fear is
something we do not know, and death but a distant memory. So tread softly, pray
to your god, and gird yourself with silver when the moons arise and night’s
dark prince awakens. We fear not the wizard, nor the warrior, neither rogue,
nor priest; our strength is timeless, drawn from darkness and we know no master
save the hot lust of our unending hunger. We long for blood, your blood and no
blade, nor spell, nor clever artifice, can keep us long from our prize. Feel
our teeth at your throat, your life ebb from you, and know as darkness comes to
claim you that the price of your folly is your everlasting soul.

I change shape and take to the air. It is a clear, cold night, with no
clouds to hinder my vision. Below me, the dark canopy of the forest bears an
even darker scar; the trail of the old river and its sister road to town and
Arcalian.

Despite my near limitless power, I am cautious about openly wandering in
a human city on a clear night. I have had run-ins with them before and I have
no wish to draw undue notice. I soar in a long gliding circle to free my mind
for concentration.

It takes but a moment.

Then the storm begins to build, drawing in clouds from the distant sea.
They roil and churn in the darkening night, reaching forth with long writhing
tendrils as if to grasp the town with a shadowy hand. A chilling gust of wind
sweeps through the forest trees and the mists boil forth from the valley floor.
All told, I spend an hour circling the town while the storm gathers its
strength. Then, as the first lightnings begin to flash and the rains begin to
fall, I descend on shadowy wings into the heart of Drisdak, the city on the Sea
of Sorrows.

The mages guild is easy to find; its rancid stench of magic can be
smelled from blocks away. It’s a tall building, made of stone, looking more
like a miniature keep than a guild house. Five circular towers loom up from a
central stone edifice. I have no doubt that Arcalian can be found in the
highest tower in the room of the guild master, undoubtedly basking in the
luxuries my services provided.

Guest Post:
Zombies vs. Vampires

The question of the century has been posed: mythical plagues
ravage the human race and there is a New World Order coming. Who will claim the
world for their own? The rising might of the vampires, or the horrible scourge
of zombies?

An interesting question to be sure. What does each side have
going for it? I think strength, intelligence, wit, and a larger array of
special powers go with the vampires. Depending on how true you want to be to
the original folklore, vampires have shape-changing ability, control over
weather, and are exceptionally difficult to kill. They are also exceptionally
strong and virtually immortal unless slain. Zombies tend to be construed as
mindless killing machines that are very difficult to destroy; their animated
flesh can keep going, no matter how much you damage it, unless you zap it in
the head.

What about weaknesses? Here, going by most modern accounts,
zombies have the edge. They really don’t have weaknesses, except that they can
be killed by a blow to the head. Oh, and they are also quite stupid. Vampires
(again, if you follow the folklore) cannot enter buildings unless invited, are
incinerated by sunlight, and are repelled by holy objects. Modern accounts of
vampires usually do away with the invitations and the holy objects and leave
only the sun as a weakness. Regardless, that is a very serious weakness indeed,
limiting the vampire’s activities to just one half of any twenty-four hour
period.

So, who would rule the world? Assuming that neither one’s
bite affects the other, I’m afraid I must go with the vampires. No matter their
weaknesses, they have the great gift of intelligence, and a more telling
advantage would be quite difficult to find. They could understand and
manipulate science and technology, if necessary. They could organize their
forces and use military tactics. Zombies usually attack via a mindless swarm.
Intimidating in numbers, but not useful in the long term. There is also the
fact that vampires have the potential of ruling an orderly and disciplined
planet with thought and planning. There could be a vampire government that
issues decrees, gathers humans to be farmed, and generally maintains order for
the purpose of continuing its legacy. Zombies usually don’t show such
restraint. If the zombies were to win control of the planet, things would
quickly degenerate into chaos. There would be no government, no controlled
human farming, and no restraint. The humans would be wiped out until there was
nothing left but zombies. Zombie rule would lead to annihilation of pretty much
everything; vampire rule would simply lead to slavery. I’m not sure that’s
necessarily preferable, but that does seem to be the final outcome of each.

Finally, one on one, a zombie could never defeat a vampire,
simply because the zombie wouldn’t be cognizant of how to kill its foe. Even if
it were lucky enough to ram a stake through a vampire’s heart, it wouldn’t
think to do that again, if it encountered another one. The mental capacity just
is not there. So, actually, with that in mind, I think vampires would be the
clear winner, unless the zombie’s bite affected them. In such a case, all bets
are off.

Matthew D. Ryan is a published author
living in upstate New York on the shores of Lake Champlain. He has a background
in philosophy, mathematics, and computer science. He also has a black belt in
the martial arts and studies yoga. He has been deeply involved in the fantasy
genre for most of his life as a reader, writer, and game designer. He believes
he saw the legendary Lake Champlain Monster (a.k.a Champy) once and he has a
cat named Confucius.

About Me

Dana Wright has always had a fascination with things that go bump in the night. She is often found playing at local bookstores, trying not to maim herself with crochet hooks or knitting needles, watching monster movies with her husband and furry kids or blogging about books. More commonly, she is chained to her computers, writing like a woman possessed. She is currently working on several children's stories, young adult fiction, short stories and is trying her hand at poetry. She is a contributing author to Ghost Sniffer’s CYOA, Siren’s Call E-zine in their “Women in Horror” issue in February 2013 and "Revenge" in October 2013, a contributing author to Potatoes! (upcoming), Fossil Lake, Undead in Pictures, Potnia, a funny ghost story anthology by Crushing Hearts Black Butterfly Press, Dark Harvest,Wonderstruck, Shifters: A Charity Anthology, Holiday Horrors and the Roms, Bombs and Zoms Anthology from Evil Girlfriend Media. Dana has also reviewed music for Muzikreviews.com specializing in New Age and alternative music and has been a contributing writer to Eternal Haunted Summer, Nightmare Illustrated, Massacre Magazine, Pagan Living Magazine, The Were Traveler October 2013 edition: The Little Magazine of Magnificent Monsters, the December 2013 issue The Day the Zombies Ruled the Earth. She currently reviews music at New Age Music Reviews and Write a Music Review.